Chapter 10: Chapter 10 - Continuum
As Diederick was walking back to the camp he felt something in the force. It was an ominous feeling, a feeling that made his blood boil in anticipation, a threat. He wore an evil smirk on his face as he grabbed his lightsabre and imbued his body in the force for extra durability and stalked closer to the campsite. As he reached it, he could see Cross and Sharp out cold on the floor whilst Petra was sending force blasts and boulders at a man that seemed to be a clone of him! Slowing down to observe the surroundings, it seemed that the clone was on its own, it didn't seem to have the ability to tap into the force but it had seemed to have a copy of his lightsabre and was swinging it around as if he'd been trained to use it correctly. He kept the smirk on his face and calmly walked closer and ignited his lightsabre "Unless you want your hands cut off Petra, I suggest you tap out" He smugly suggested. Petra's head snapped to look at him clearly confused "Which one of you is the real one?" She asked. Diederick rolled his eyes at the question and walked closer to the clone "I'm afraid your existence ends here" His eyes turned red and he thrust his palm to the clone. The clone smirked and was about to reply but the blast hit him and flew back into the forest as if a truck had hit him.
Diederick chased after it into the forest, he could see where his opponent had landed but couldn't see him. Reaching out to the force it suddenly screamed at him, so he ducked just as the doppelganger jumped out of one of the trees and swiped at where Diederick's head would've been with his lightsabre. Diederick took this moment to now go on the offensive as he started to slash his sword at the clone only to be parry away. Diederick's free hand pointed and shot lightning towards his opponent, the plasma connected with its intended target and he then started to convulse on the floor. Keeping up with the offense he closed the distance and cut of the arm that held the lightsabre and then drove his blade through him. The clone looked at Diederick in horror as he did this, Diederick then gripped the clone's head, his eyes turning from red to an almost black as he tried to forcefully extract information from this clone, the clone started to scream in pain as his memories were being wiped out. This lasted a few minutes before the clone died; Diederick dropped the corps and shot some more force lightning at the clone, setting it on fire. He stayed like this for a few moments until nothing was left, he then turned to look for the lightsabre but found a fist coming towards his face. The punch connected and Diederick flew back a few meters and landed heavily rolling back to his feet the Sith frowned and scanned the area with the force, he re-ignited the lightsabre and waited for the hidden foe to reveal itself.
"I have to say Darth Diederick; that was one of the most brutal ways of intelligence gathering I have ever witnessed" a voice said jovially. Diederick kept alert and scanned to area again to try and work out where the voice came from "Not going to work, sorry!" the voice mockingly "Boo!" The voice was now coming from next to his ear. Diederick deactivated the lightsabre and closed his eyes, now fully immersing himself with the force "Ooo! Interesting idea, I wonder if it'll work!" The voice contemplated. Diederick then felt like he was being punched from all angles which kept breaking his concentration. Now thoroughly pissed off, he opened his eyes and slammed his open palm to the ground. This caused a shockwave that uprooted the forest surrounding them, when the dust settled, and he could see the camp again. Scanning the area, he still couldn't find a body to link the voice to, he growled in frustration "Come on out you coward!" Diederick shouted.
"Finished having your hissy fit Darth?" A mocking voice said and Diederick turned to see what looked like a middle-aged man with receding black hair walking slowly towards him. "Now that you've got all of that pent-up aggression out of your system, we should be able to have a constructive conversation."The man started "None of your galaxy's species or powers should turn up in this part of the universe but it seems that the individual called the caretaker accelerated some plans... you know, I could send you back..." He mentioned but stopped because Diederick had pointed his hand at him and shot lightning at him. The man disappeared from that spot then reappeared next to him and punched him in the face again, Diederick hit the floor and when he tried to get back up the man kicked him to keep him off balance. Every time the Sith attempted to make a connection to the force another kick came to his ribs. "Fuck you!" Diederick shouted as he reignited his lightsabre and swung at the assailant. The lightsabre sliced through the man's leg as if it were nothing, he screamed and fell onto his back. Not missing this chance Diederick stood back up and started heavily kicking the man "TELL ME HOW TO GET BACK YOU SHIT!" Diederick shouted at him. Then everything stopped. The forest was back to normal, the man had both his legs again and was stood a few meters away from the Sith looking mockingly at him "I'll do what I want, when I want." He said arrogantly "I said... I could send you back but that doesn't mean I will" He folded his arms defiantly.
"I can force the information out of you" Diederick spat at him
"Just because I look like a human doesn't necessarily mean I am one. The force may work as a blunt instrument on me but the finer attributes of it won't." He mocked
"Since you've brought it up. Who are you and what do you want?" The Sith asked with resentment
"I am Q; and I want you, my short-fused friend, to help me pay back a favour" Q stated with his arms folded.
"Your clearly more that capable of doing whatever you want. Why do you need me?" Diederick questioned.
"For reasons I'm not going to go into... I owe Janeway debt." Q ignored the sarcasm and continued to speak "With you being here you should be able to get them back home in a fraction of the time, compared to them going by themselves. So, you are to get the crew of Voyager home in the shortest of time, without too many casualties. As a reward, you can go back to your galaxy that's full of war and you can murder to your hearts content"
Diederick sneered at Q "It must really hurt being in debt to a mere human!" he mocked "What if I decide to ignore you and start my own Sith empire in this galaxy? Since force users are so few and those who know are it are fewer, it seems to me that Petra and I could easily steamroll anyone who opposed us" This time Q started laughing at the Sith.
"Hahaha! That is adorable!" Q laughed "You and your apprentice are the only ones in this galaxy that can use the force, forgive me if I'm wrong but you may need more than two people to start an empire, even more to keep it going!" Q's face then contorted into a dark frown "You were brought to this galaxy by a mistake of another mortal and because of your potent connection to the force, you have effected how this galaxy operates before the inhabitants can gain an understanding behind it." Q's voice cooled, Diederick's nose started to bleed "The way I see it..." Q continued, his hands balling into fists "You have two options. One; you help me pay off a debt and you and your apprentice go back to your galaxy and this mess will end" As Q said this Diederick's legs buckle and his eyes start to bleed "Or two. You and your apprentice die here and now, I can always find another way to pay Janeway back." Q walked over and kicked the Sith in the chest; Diederick fell onto his back and Q pressed his foot on top of his ribs, waiting for an answer. The Sith bored into the looming figure over him, his body not listening to him. The force was laughing at him that he had lost, eyes turning black with rage he spoke "OK Q" He relented "I'll get them back to their area of space"
"Excellent decision Darth" Q smiled in his victory and took the pressure off and allowed the Sith to stand. Diederick stood back onto his feet and wiped the blood from his face "I best get moving then" he spat towards Q.
"Oh, I would if I were you. You're little encounter with the local Borg has caused a few events to be set into motion" Q said sagely "Be seeing you Darth, I look forward to seeing what you get up to" Q then disappeared just as mysteriously as he appeared. Diederick cursed under his breath, dusted himself off and slowly set of back to camp.
When he got back Petra was picking up the two, still unconscious, Starfleet officers. "How're you holding up Petra?" Diederick asked
"Tired." She replied "What the hell was that? Why was there two of you?" She started to fire of questions
"That was a sham copy of me to get close and take you out the fight as quickly as possible. So, what happened?" Diederick asked
"When your clone or copy came into the camp, I was still concentrating on my training but the next thing I see, is Cross and Sharp on the ground and you're now closer than you've ever been with me." Petra stared back at Diederick icily "When he touched my back... I knew something wasn't right. So, I punched it in the face and threw the rocks at it. Which is about the time the real you came back and you know the rest..." Diederick could feel the rage and discomfort rolling off her.
"Remember this feeling, the rage and disgust then turn it into fuel for the next time you have to call on the force" Diederick smiled sinisterly "I've been forced into accelerating my plans Petra" The smile vanishing from his face and a gloomy feeling came over him "To satisfy a debt for someone, I have to get these noobs back to their home system before they kill themselves with their own naivety. Once that is complete, I will be taken back to my own galaxy." Diederick explained as he looked Petra in the eye "According to a, particular, source. You are the only one in this galaxy that has a connection to the force that you can use and wield. So, when I go back you will be on your own again. The option is available for you to come with me if you so wish Petra." Petra looked shocked and devastated at the revelation that if her master went away, she'd be on her own again "Is there really no one else like me?" She asked defiance laced in the question "A whole galaxy and there's only one of me? What sort of bullshit is that?!" She spat and looked away "I need to think" and took off towards the cliff edge.
Diederick sighed, shook his head and walked to the wave runner. Sharp and Cross were still out of it, so Deidrick opened the comms system to Voyager "Sightseers to Voyager, over" Diederick said in a cheerful voice.
"We read you Darth" Harry's weary voice replied over the comms.
"Seems that I need to cut the training trip short, we'll be leaving shortly." He reported and then turned off the comms again and turned to the unconscious Starfleet officers.
Cross had started to wake up, he looked at the Sith confused for a few seconds and then realised he was in the Wave runner "What happened?" He asked groggily.
"You got taken out by a poor copy of me. Petra managed to hold it off until I came back here." Diederick replied
"Shit... how many more copies of you are there?" Cross hesitantly asked
"That was the only one, luckily for you. If there were more, I could've used them to train you guys..." Diederick thoughtfully said. This made a drop of cold sweat run down Cross' spine "Anyway" Snapping back to what he was leading up to "I'm cutting the training short and we're going back to Voyager. I've already informed them so once Sharp is finished being a log, prep the ship to leave." He said and then proceeded to walk out of the shuttle.
He stepped out and looked over to the cliff edge and slowly walked over to it. Walking out to the clearing he saw Petra looking towards the horizon, she had noticed him standing a few meters away from her. Still looking forward she said "You know Mr Reaper..." She called out to him, reverting back to her nickname for the Sith "Before I met you my life consisted of going form hospitals, different therapy sessions and then being beaten until I lost conscious. I was called a freak, psycho and anything that would link me to the scum of our society. Everyone, including my family, abandoned me. Anyone who tried to get to know me was pushed away." She said mechanically, almost like she was an outsider retelling a sad story of someone else "When I was being beaten in that side street, I was so sick of life, why these voices kept mocking me I felt something snap. Like I couldn't give a fuck anymore, I was done with life. I wanted it so much, to have a nice normal life where I'd do the normal things that everyone else seemed to be able to do so easily. To find love, to have a family, even start a family of my own one day." Her voice hitched at that moment "These powers at that point were a curse that I was afflicted with. With the last of my will I remember reaching my arm to the sky and then everything turned white. The voices died down; it was the most comfortable feeling I've ever felt. The next thing I know, you're looming over me telling me I look like shit" She gave a small smile and then looked at Diederick "If what you're saying is true and that there really is no one else here that have the powers that you and I have. Then I don't want to be here. I want to learn how to use my powers, to learn how to live with them and how to make it benefit my life so I can have one. I want to come with you Darth Diederick." Her eyes were resolute.
Diederick was very happy with this outcome and said smilingly "Very touching Petra, I might cry" He teased "Since you're so passionate with this decision I will allow you to come. Let's get back to the ship and get out of here." He turned back towards the shuttle.
"Well, someone has to save these noobs from themselves..." Petra mimicked the Sith and walked behind him.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
ITGuy91
ITGuy91 To my mind Q has always been the closest thing to a god in Star Trek, mostly acting on whim and talking to people the way they know best. Hence this more violent Q; the only way you're going to get a sith to do as you say is to beat it into them!
Thank you for reading this far! There has been a lot more positive than what I was expecting! I wasn't expecting anyone to read this so once again thank you :)
ITGuy
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